I am starting to realize that if, heaven forbid, I need help in my neighborhood and emit a scream, nobody will hear me.
Unless someone not wearing headphones happens to be nearby. Which seems unlikely based on observations.
Gen Zers, what’s with the Airpods everywhere you go? Even worse, what’s with the bulkier models of ear wear like Beats headphones? You all look like you work at either a shooting range or on an airport tarmac. Do you even know what a BIRD sounds like? Maybe if that bird had a podcast or warbled like Sabrina Carpenter, then you’d know.
There are other ways to block out extraneous, outdoor sounds, if that’s what you desire. Staying home with the windows shut comes to mind. But you seem to want a change of scenery. Why else would you sit at the corner of a bar, laptop open and headphones firmly in place? I observed a solo female patron doing just this the other night while I spent the evening with friends. We were having a great time listening to one another’s stories and commenting. Maybe she truly wanted solitude but was also craving a $16 cocktail.
It’s no secret we retreated into a collective shell during the pandemic and we are struggling to emerge. Return-to-office policies, where personal contact is unavoidable, are still met with resistance. Office buildings continue sitting vacant, at least in Chicago where I live. But can’t we at least TRY to converse with one another? To experience the sound of nature around us, even if that might include two drivers spewing profanities at one another as they argue over a parking space?
Or does this headphone loving generation know something I don’t?
Testing the Beats: A Grocery Store Headphones Experiment
I decided to put their preferences to a test. Beats headphones atop my head one rainy morning, I ventured into my local grocery store. I’d chosen “Today’s Hits,” an Amazon Music playlist featuring the artists my headphone-loving neighbors enjoy. Chappell Roan sang about the Pink Pony Club as I walked the half mile to the store; Olivia Dean was describing the man she needed as I entered.
Once inside I found myself removing my headphones more often than I was using them. In the produce section, I glanced up from the avocados I was examining to see an elderly woman staring at me, looking slightly annoyed.
“I just need to get by you,” she said, after I muted Harry Styles and raised my right headphone cup.
“Sorry,” I replied, moving my cart.
Minutes later, while Taylor Swift sang about some girl named Ophelia, I sensed an announcement emanating from the store’s speaker system. Thinking maybe there was some sort of flash sale in the meat department, I moved my Beats to my neck so I could hear that, yes, an employee was broadcasting for all to hear. Much to my dismay, there were no sales taking place but shoppers were reminded that dogs in shopping carts are forbidden.
Rules like this are probably what spawned the rise of Instacart.
Shopping nearly completed, I glanced at my list (yes, I still enter grocery stores with a paper list) and realized I was lacking refrigerated tofu. How’s that for a Gen Z item? Unsure where it was, I approached a store employee stocking shelves. I removed my headphones while he removed one Airpod. When did it become OK to listen to music, podcasts, motivational speeches or whatever, during working hours? I guess it’s OK as long as one knows where the tofu is.
Why We Should Take the Headphones Off
I paid for my items sans headphones, figuring a monetary transaction might also require a verbal conversation. I was correct, since the clerk reminded me to enter my store PIN before she could ring up my purchases.
Trudging back to my condo with two bags in each hand, the sounds of the city filling my ears. Early morning rain had given way to sunshine, and the streets were clogged with cars and pedestrians alike. Birds chirped, buses honked, and I overheard a couple passing a gas station bemoaning yet another price hike, courtesy of the ongoing conflict in Iran.
All of which sounded better to me than any algorithm-generated playlist or podcast.
Joe Rogan might disagree.
